Sire Before Father
by Songbird's Spirit
Summary: The death of her brother and the slow destruction of her family leaves young Anna vulnerable to the darkness of abuse. But one small friend is determined to make sure she's safe, even at the cost of his own life.
1. Loud Night

They were fighting again...screaming so loud that Anna was very sure that her poor ears would be ringing for awhile. Her little clock with the pretty mermaid told her it hadn't been even twenty minutes since her parents had sent her to bed. Well, kind of. They didn't send her to bed anymore, not like they used to. These days Anna would just excuse herself from dinner, taking the escalating conversation as her cue to leave.

Her heart hurt to think about it but a loud bang against the downstairs wall startled her out of her sadness, her heart beating fast in fear. She wished she could still climb into bed with her brother, Lucas, like she used to do when she had nightmares. His bed was right next to hers and he was always a lot nicer than mom or dad when it was past bedtime.

But Lucas' bed was empty. And it was going to stay empty for a long time.

Forever actually.

Anna jumped as there was another crash downstairs and a couple of thumps. It sounded like someone had broken a plate and fell. She'd have to be careful where she walked tomorrow morning. She didn't want to cut her feet again.

The child brought her blankets tighter around her body, sad and scared.

"It's going to be okay, Anna."

Anna sniffed as the small figure climbed onto her bed, stumbling slightly over the large wrinkles in her blankets. The child mindfully pulled a flashlight from under her pillow and flicked it on, letting the soft beam come to rest on the slightly dented armor but still shiny red and blue armor of the toy.

"But what if they come in my room again?" Anna mumbled, "Dad bent my arm and it hurt a whole lot the last time."

"Youngling, I promise to do my best to help you." The figurine promised gently, placing a hand gently on her arm.

"Promise?"

"I promise. Swear on my spark."

Anna jumped again as she heard another loud thud, but could tell that it was coming from the stairwell. Someone was trying to come up the stairs. The littler figure on her bed wobbled from the movement but stayed at her lap.

"Turn off your flashlight, Anna."

"O-okay."

With a tiny click the room was plunged back into darkness, the only light coming from the window at the other side of the room. The curtains were pulled and had stars on them. Lucas told her they used to glow in the dark but were so old they just didn't anymore. They'd hung glow sticks from the bar to make up for the lack of effort on the curtain's behalf.

"Lay down Anna, I will be right behind you."

"Okay…"

The headboard of Anna's bed conveniently had a shelf built into it which allowed Anna to keep stuffed animals without them falling all over the floor when she slept. Her little figure friend expertly maneuvered into a hiding spot between the elephant and the bear, intently watching the door as the thumping moved higher up the stairs.

Anna couldn't help but shake, her teeth chattering like they often did whenever she stressed or scared. The pair continued to listen as the thudding finally reached the top of the stairs, apparently tripping over the flat surface as another thud shook the walls of Anna's room.

Loud, but slurred, cursing could be heard through the walls as the person heavily fell into the wall. Clearly, they were using the wall to aid them down the hall, nearing closer and closer to Anna's door.

"I'm scared…"

"I know little one." The deep voice soothed from behind her head, gently reaching out to pet her hair, "Be strong."

Anna couldn't see it but her smaller friend had a frown set firmly on his faceplates. He was going to protect her, this child, with his life if he had to. He could hear Anna hold her breath as the figure, probably her father due to the weight behind the fall, pass her door and continue to his own room down the hall.

He then relaxed. According to pattern, Anna's mother rarely -if ever- joined her husband anymore, electing to sleep downstairs on the couch or in one of the chairs. If he had to guess, this was likely the cause of her terrible moods in the morning that Anna would often report to him.

Anna slowly released her breath and turned around, flicking the flashlight on a moment later. "I think it's safe now."

It churned his tanks to hear how happy that made Anna. Living in fear of her parents was the last thing he'd have wanted for her.

"I think you may be right, little one." He agreed, slipping out of his hiding spot. "And that means now is the perfect time for you to get some sleep."

"But I'm not tired, not really." She huffed softly.

"You are not tired, because you were scared. Once you calm down you will be tired." The toy reasoned with a small chuckle, knowing what the child was trying to pull.

"But until then…" She trailed off and the toy smiled, his guess right on the mark.

"Would you like me to read to you?" He offered and Anna smiled with delight.

"Yes, please!" She chirped, yet kept the voice low.

"Alright, go choose one then-! Wait! Anna-!" But his warning came to late.

Her feet made contact heavily with the floor and she froze, realizing what she had done. The toy's armor tensed, and he beckoned for Anna to come back into bed, fear stricken across the little girl's face.

Slowly and as quietly as she could manage, Anna climbed back into bed, hoping that her mother hadn't noticed the sound of her footfalls. The floors were thin and her mother was a very light sleeper. Anna hoped her mother would forget she had been out of bed the next morning, or -even better- hadn't heard it at all.

Anna laid back down, stiff and silent, clearly defeated.

"It will be alright youngling, tomorrow is Monday and you will be at school. You will not have to be home for very long in the morning." He soothed her, petting her hair again.

Anna sniffed, blinking back tears with a small smile. "Thank you, Optimus." She hiccuped, "I'm glad you're here."

"Of course little one," the prime smiled gently, "now get some rest. I will be right here."

"Hehe, okay."


	2. Uneasy Morning

The next morning found Anna awake at 7:15 to the sound of her mermaid alarm clock. The little girl was quick to silence the alarm and yawned, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Good morning, little one." Optimus called from the top open shelf of her headboard.

"Morning, Optimus," The little girl smiled and watched as her companion climbed down the shelf.

Light filled the room, though gently enough that the space was still comfortably dark. A pang of heavy sadness filled her as she quietly looked at what once had been Lucas' side of the room. They had shared the same closet in the middle of the room and it was hard to open the doors and see all of his stuff was still there.

"Youngling…" Optimus started softly, feeling a pang of sadness as well.

The loss of her brother had been recent, just having happened the past winter and it was only early April. Optimus watched as Anna chose her clothes for the day, though it wasn't too hard. The school uniform guidelines only required elementary students to wear khakis and solid color t-shirts. Any color would do, and today Anna felt like blue was a good color.

Optimus smiled, "Blue today?"

"I think so," Anna smiled, "I think it's a good color."

The two shared a smile but quickly flinched as footsteps suddenly pounded up the stairs, light like her mother's. In a panic, Anna scooped up Optimus and tossed him onto her bed so he could hide in the mess of her blankets. Just in time as the door turned and swung open, revealing her mother in a disheveled state.

Bags hung heavily from her eyes, and her once lovely blonde hair stuck out in strands from her barely-there bun. Her robe hung loosely around her shoulders, and she gave the little girl a tired glare.

"Breakfast burnt so there's cereal on the table. It's getting soggy, hurry up," she snapped, leaving as swiftly as she'd come in.

Anna let out a sigh of relief and made her way to the bed. "Sorry for tossing you," she whispered and peeled back the blankets. "Are you okay?"

"Perfectly fine, sweetspark. Do not worry." Optimus assured her and stood albeit wobbly, "You had better hurry and eat, I would hate for you to have a terrible breakfast."

Anna gave the small mech a smile and hurried off to do as she'd been told.

Confident in his charge the mech set about helping her get ready for the day, dragging the blue shirt Anna had dropped to her bed. Thankfully the bed was low enough to the ground that tossing the clothing onto it wasn't much of a challenge.

Not that he didn't have the experience. Every time he saw the brother's bed empty his spark seemed to constrict in its casing. He'd failed to save both, but he wouldn't go back with empty servos. He wouldn't be able to bear it.

The mech thumbed the plating of his chassis, willing his agitated spark to soothe itself. For now, all he could do was wait and hope that luck had things in store for him.

* * *

Anna hurried downstairs, hoping her cereal wasn't gross soggy. Soggy cereal wasn't all that bad, but if it was soggy for too long it became slimy. Her mother would yell at her for making faces at her food sometimes when that happened.

To her delight, her mother wasn't waiting in the kitchen for her, having already moved to the living room to watch television. Anna wouldn't have to worry about her mother then. On the other hand, there was a new problem.

The moment Anna climbed into her chair she knew something was wrong with her cereal. It didn't smell like cereal. It smelled like something else. Something gross.

"I don't want to see any cereal thrown away in that trash can, you hear me Annalise? It all had better be eaten." Her mother called from the living room, as if she could sense the face she was making.

The cereal itself was fine. The milk was another story. The white liquid smelled foul, more than she thought her stomach could bear. And in some spots the milk was...sticking together in little balls. Anna swallowed the lump in her throat and picked up her spoon, trying not to gag. If she wanted to walk out the door unscathed, she knew she would have to eat every last oat. Her mother would be checking the trash can as soon as she went upstairs to change.

She had to eat it.

At the very least she could try and drain all the milk from her spoon before taking a bite, but it was still going to be a pretty rough breakfast. As quickly as she could, Anna scooped up as many oats as she could fit and ate quickly, trying not to taste or gag when possible. She finished as quickly as she could, and took her bowl of soured milk to the sink, trying not to make any sound as she dragged out her step stool.

With practiced ease she slowly poured the remaining milk directly into the drain and washed out the bowl. If her mother heard anything, she graciously said nothing about it. Anna thanked her lucky stars, put her step stool back, and quietly climbed the stairs.

Mornings were all about being quiet, the less noise you made, the less you were yelled at. Anna found Optimus waiting next to her clothes, and gave a little wave.

"How was breakfast, little one?" He asked as she closed the door.

Anna scrunched up her nose, "Bad." She whispered, "The milk was bad."

The mech could feel his spark flare with anger and sympathy. "Are you okay sweetspark? How do you feel?"

"I feel fine," She shrugged, "I tried to just eat the cereal."

Anna opened the door to the bathroom, desperate to brush the taste out of her mouth with arguably too much toothpaste.

The little mech guessed that this room was specifically made as a nursery, as the bathroom also had a door leading out into the hall. More than once he had tensed when he could hear one of the adults rummaging around that bathroom late at night. At least Anna's mother wasn't dumb enough to keep any of her pills in that bathroom.

The mech politely turned when his charge finished and came in to change.

"What are you going to do while I'm gone?" Anna asked, pulling her hair out of her shirt. She grumbled a little. It had been a long time since her last haircut and it was getting a bit long for her liking.

"I am not sure yet little one." He replied, "Though I believe our seeker friend may be visiting us soon."

He chuckled softly as Anna's eyes lit up. She loved the toy-sized flybot.

"I'll unlock the window then." she smiled, and hurried to do just that.

Optimus at least hoped the seeker was coming. Comms were not working, and it had been weeks since his last visit. It was high time for some news.

And even higher time for some good news.

Anna glanced at the clock on her brother's nightstand.

"It's 7:55." She said, and walked back to her friend, "The bus will be here soon."

"You had better go catch it then, little one." He smiled and patted her hand, "Have a good day at school."

She smiled, "Have a good day at home." She walked to her door, pausing for a moment before whispering over her shoulder, "Love you, Optimus!"

And with that, she dashed out into the hall.

His spark warmed, determined now more than ever to save the little girl. He could only hope that her teacher was kind enough to tame her hair before class started, again.

With that, Optimus closed the door behind his charge and made his way over to the window. For now, he could only wait and hope that the seeker was on his way.


End file.
